The Council for Leather Exports (CLE) honoured R Selvam IAS, Executive Director of CLE, at a felicitation ceremony held at Taj Connemara, Chennai on April 2, 2026, recognising his service to the Indian leather industry and his role in driving policy support, industry growth and global engagement during his 8 year tenure.

Industry leaders, associations and stakeholders from across the Indian leather and footwear sector attended and shared their experiences working with R Selvam IAS.

Associations including IFLMEA, ISF, Ranitec, PTA, TALTEA and others were present. On the podium were Israr Ahmed, former Regional Chairman, CLE on behalf of Abdul Wahab, Southern Regional Chairman, CLE, Dr Rafeeque Ahmed, former Chairman, CLE, Aqeel Panaruna, former Chairman, CLE, Dr Thanikaivelan, Director, CSIR-CLRI and R Selvam IAS.

Israr Ahmed read out Abdul Wahab’s message and highlighted Selvam’s personal involvement in building Tamil Nadu into an athletic footwear manufacturing hub. This effort brought ₹12,000 crore (~$1.1 Billion) investment and created 1 lakh jobs. He also worked with Mr Rajendra Jalan, former Chairman, CLE on removing 20% export duty on crust leather and 10% import duty on wet blue leather, making both NIL.

“Selvam’s most important contribution was his personal involvement in making Tamil Nadu the athletic footwear capital of the world and taking delegations globally”

– Abdul Wahab, Southern Regional Chairman, CLE

Israr Ahmed, former Regional Chairman, CLE added that Selvam introduced the ‘Soles for Souls’ marathon, which saw more than 8000 participants in both years.

“Selvam stood with the industry during the recent Supreme Court issue related to the Palar river and actively supported stakeholders at every step”

– Israr Ahmed, Former Regional Chairman, CLE

Aqeel Panaruna, former Chairman, CLE said Selvam, a 2001 batch Himachal Pradesh cadre IAS officer, served longer than the usual 3, 5 or 7-year tenure and worked with 5 chairmen, becoming a key face of the industry.

“Selvam has become a face of our industry in these 8 years through the way he has worked”

– Aqeel Panaruna, Former Chairman, CLE

Dr Rafeeque Ahmed, former Chairman, CLE said Selvam handled multiple industry challenges and built strong relationships with ministries and government officials, earning trust across the sector.

“We saw a lot of issues in the leather industry but Selvam was always there”

– Dr Rafeeque Ahmed, Former Chairman, CLE (-)

Dr Thanikaivelan, Director, CSIR-CLRI said it was not easy for an administrative officer to enter the leather sector and become part of it.

“It wouldn’t have been easy for an administration person to come into this industry and become what I would call a leather man”

– Dr Thanikaivelan, Director, CSIR CLRI (-)

Vikas Mahatni, Regional Chairman West, Council for Leather Exports, shared his experience working with Selvam IAS to Leathernews.org and said he improved industry and government collaboration, simplified processes and expanded global market linkages. He also highlighted Selvam’s role in attracting investments and enabling joint ventures.

“During his tenure, Shri Selvam demonstrated exceptional leadership, clarity of vision and a deep commitment to the growth and modernization of the Indian leather sector.”

– Vikas Mahatni, Regional Chairman West, Council for Leather Exports (-)

He added that Selvam’s efforts led to development of two major projects in Maharashtra, a 150 acre leather products park and a 100 acre tannery cluster.

R Selvam IAS said the industry never treated him as an outsider and gave him deep exposure to policy, environmental and operational challenges. He said the sector creates strong socio economic impact with 80% women employment and has the ability to drive large scale transformation.

“This industry gave me a wonderful opportunity and I learnt a lot in these 8 years and this industry never treated me as an outsider and treated me as a family member.”

– R Selvam IAS, Executive Director, CLE (-)

Selvam said the Covid period was one of the toughest phases during his tenure and also pointed out that it was tough to navigate balancing industrial demand with government schemes was not easy.

He added that compared to his earlier role in the irrigation department, working with the leather industry was far more complex and challenging.

He said he tried to bring industry policy approaches from China, Vietnam and Taiwan to India. He added that the government can only act as a facilitator while entrepreneurs must drive growth. He said leather will continue to exist as long as civilisation exists and will not be sidelined by non leather materials. He also stressed the need for younger generation to enter the industry.

Speaking on regional development, he noted that FDI initially came strongly into South India, while northern states were left behind. He said Uttar Pradesh later introduced strong policies, which are now among the best.

He said he also had the opportunity to work with three CSIR-CLRI directors during his tenure, Dr Chandrasekaran, Dr K J Sreeram and Dr Thanikaivelan, along with institutes like FDDI and CFTI.

He also thanked the CLE team, saying they delivered strong results despite having limited staff. He added that 8 years is a long tenure for a civil servant and said the leather industry will always remain close to his heart.